Eliminating Ableism in Education

Blog # 8

Reflection

To give a definition to the word "ableism", ableism is the discrimination of and social prejudice against people with disabilities based on the belief that typical abilities are superior. 

I have a cousin who has down syndrome, and she couldn't be doing better. She plays unified sports, takes place in the special olympics and does good in school. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for everyone. 

In high school, we had a wing that was primarily held classes for people with disabilities. Everyone would avoid that section of the school and sometimes even go the long way just to get to class. I would go through that hallway and talk to some of the students, because they were just like us they just had the label of being disabled that 'scared' people away.

When Hehir talks about education for the deaf, it reminded me of high school as well. My grandfather's sister was deaf and my grandfather got me interested in signing. Of course being a crazy grandfather, he taught me the swear words in ASL first to use towards my parents when they made me mad. But I used it for something else, because I was so interested, I took it upon myself to take lessons on my own through videos. All throughout high school I would come home after practice, do my routine then get on youtube and learn. It was actually my senior project to teach kids how to sign and it's what kind of inspired me to teach. I use it at work all the time when someone comes to pick up their medication and they happen to be deaf. 

Learning ASL is just one step that someone can take to help the disabled community. Obviously, this isn't enough or the answer to everyones problem. But I like to think with the glass half full. I think you all should try! So here is a fun video to learn some basics!